Chicago Strike: Charter Schools Open, Union-Run Schools Closed

The Chicago Tribune reported on Monday that the Chicago Teachers Union has gone on strike. The move will leave 400,000 students with nowhere to go and nothing to do. Meanwhile, the 50,000 students who attend the city’s charter schools will be in class, as teachers there do not belong to the union:

[The Chicago Teachers Union] has called for its first walkout in 25 years. All of the city’s charter schools will remain open Monday. . .

Charter schools, which are independently run but largely rely on public funding, have been growing steadily in Chicago over the last decade. . . [T]he city’s charter enrollment has nearly doubled in the last five years, reaching about 52,000 students this fall, according to Chicago Public Schools figures. . .

The Chicago Teachers Union has fought the growth of charter schools because the majority of teaching staffs are not members of unions and none belong to CTU. . . Charter operators said more parents have been asking about the schools in the last several weeks since union teachers first threatened to strike, and charter supporters are capitalizing.